A tale of two rallies: Romney-Ryan draw overflow, while Obama half-fills room

The new Republican ticket held a rally in vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan‚??s home state of Wisconsin on Sunday, packing over 11,000 people into the Waukesha County Expo Center.¬† I‚??ve seen some estimates that put the crowd at over 13,000.¬† The crowd was so big that it wouldn‚??t fit in the Expo Center, and had to be moved outside.

The huge and enthusiastic crowd moved Ryan to tears, as he declared, ‚??My veins run with cheese, bratwurst, a little Spotted Cow, Leinie‚??s, and some Miller.‚?Ě¬† That might explain why he became such a physical fitness enthusiast.¬† It was either that, or angioplasty.

‚??I was raised on the Packers, Badgers, Bucks and Brewers,‚?Ě Ryan continued.¬† ‚??I like to hunt here, I like to fish here, I like to snowmobile here.¬† I even think ice fishing is interesting.¬† I‚??m a Wisconsinite through and through.‚?Ě

Ryan repeated a point he made during his debut campaign speech on Saturday, about the importance of reversing Barack Obama‚??s irresponsible and ineffective spending: ‚??I look at my kids and I want them to have the kind of future that I had, and that’s what my dad always told me‚?¶ because in this country, every generation fixes their problems, makes things better and leaves their kids better off. ¬†It is our duty to save the American Dream for our children.‚?Ě

This is a compelling point for the Romney-Ryan campaign to make.¬† Obama has dumped an amount of government debt on America‚??s children that actually exceeds the average personal debt they will accumulate during their working lives.¬† No system that functions by looting the bank accounts of a generation that is too young to vote in protest is sustainable, or morally acceptable.¬† Obama-style deficit spending is taxation without representation and as Ryan pointed out, it‚??s the complete inversion of the American ideal.¬† Each generation is supposed to build greater prosperity for its children, not hand them the burned-out shell of an insolvent, exhausted system and tell them to figure out a way to pay its debts.

As MSNBC noticed, ‚??the energy generated by Ryan seemed to inspire the man at the top of ticket, who took on a heckler midway through his own remarks, then turned the moment into an indictment of President Obama’s campaign, whose tactics have riled Romney in recent weeks.‚?Ě

Meanwhile, President Obama was also on his home turf of Chicago, holding a rally and fundraiser at the Bridgeport Art Center.¬† He couldn‚??t even get a thousand people to show up ‚?? the venue was only half full, even though tickets were available for as little as $51.¬† Hilariously, the Obama campaign attempted to spin this disaster by claiming they only expected 850 people, so a thousand was a huge success.¬† There were more than a thousand people in line to buy bratwurst at the Romney-Ryan rally.

John Hayward began his blogging career as a guest writer at Hot Air under the pen name "Doctor Zero," producing a collection of essays entitled Doctor Zero: Year One.
He is a great admirer of free-market thinkers such as Arthur Laffer, Milton Friedman, and Thomas Sowell. He writes both political and cultural commentary, including book and movie reviews. An avid fan of horror and fantasy fiction, he has produced an e-book collection of short horror stories entitled Persistent Dread.
John is a former staff writer for Human Events. He is a regular guest on the Rusty Humphries radio show, and has appeared on numerous other local and national radio programs, including G. Gordon Liddy, BattleLine, and Dennis Miller.